


I (don't) believe in Miracles

by DoomedTemperament



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-12
Updated: 2017-09-12
Packaged: 2018-12-27 05:54:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12074859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoomedTemperament/pseuds/DoomedTemperament
Summary: “Kagami,” Imayoshi started calmly, “If you crave teamwork so desperately, you’re looking at the wrong people.” He smiled then, though not with kindness, and opened his eyes. “It was never about teamwork.”The unfiltered truth practically slapped Kagami in the face.---Entry for the KnB Discord AU Battle, Team Nacho Cheese. Genre: Swap, AU: MiracleSwap.





	I (don't) believe in Miracles

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Scale of Victory](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11168481) by [stephanericher](https://archiveofourown.org/users/stephanericher/pseuds/stephanericher). 



> For this prompt, I decided to go with swapping the Miracles for their Counterparts. Therefore, some ages have been changed. I'd love to elaborate on this more, if I didn't already have more irons in the fire.
> 
> For reference, here are the Teikou team positions for the swap:
> 
> Riko > Manager  
> Imayoshi > Power Forward (and captain)  
> Kagami > Center  
> Kasamatsu > Small Forward  
> Takao > Point Guard  
> Himuro > Shooting Guard  
> Mayuzumi > ???

**Teikou Junior High.**

“So it’s agreed then,” Imayoshi addressed the small group, his voice echoing in the otherwise-empty court, “We’ll go to different high schools and see which of us is the better player. Does anyone have complaints?”

Kagami furrowed his brows and opened his mouth.

“Anyone _aside_ from Kagami?”

“Now now,” Himuro chastised, “Let’s hear what brother dearest has to say.”

His expression was hard for Kagami to read, as always, though he was unfortunately able to detect the restrained malice in Himuro’s voice. He winced.

“I don’t care if we go to different high schools. But what’s this inter-competition crap? Seeing who the best player is? We worked as a team, we got to where we are as a team, and you’re just throwing that away for the sake of your ego?”

Kasamatsu and Takao frowned in a display of semi-sympathy, but if they had any objections, they didn’t voice them. Imayoshi raised an eyebrow, though Kagami knew he must have expected an objection. Himuro and Mayuzumi were silent as well, but that was normal.

“Kagami,” Imayoshi started calmly, “If you crave teamwork so desperately, you’re looking at the wrong people.” He smiled then, though not with kindness, and opened his eyes. “It was never about teamwork.”

The unfiltered truth practically slapped Kagami in the face.

“Now then,” Imayoshi continued, “I believe someone needs to inform our dear manager Riko about our decision.”

Kagami scowled.

“Fine, I’ll do it.”

As he stormed away, the group dispersed. Kagami had just exited the gym when he heard footsteps approaching. Once he turned around, he was surprised to see Kasamatsu and Takao trailing behind. One part of him was tempted to keep walking forward, to leave and not look back, but the other part of him that couldn’t let go was stronger.

“Hey,” Takao said, feigning a smile, “You know it would have turned out like this anyway, right? We just have clashing personalities. It was inevitable.”

Kasamatsu nodded in agreement.

“Our team was dysfunctional. This was the best way to end things.”

Kagami’s frown deepened.

“I can’t believe you two,” He said with no small amount of despair in his voice. “You really think that I’ll believe that?”

Takao flinched, and put what was supposed to be a reassuring arm around Kagami’s shoulder (which was awkward, considering the height difference.)

“I’m sure you’ll get over us.”

* * *

**Seirin High.**

Kagami passed through the courtyard with ease- it wasn’t too difficult, considering his height.

_Everyone’s trying to get my attention,_ he thought. _Especially the volleyball club._

But the volleyball club wasn’t what he was aiming for. Over the spring break, he had made a decision: If the rest of his Teikou teammates were going to let their egos go to their heads, Kagami would have to knock them down a peg with his own style (ugh, he was starting to sound like the rest of them.)

It didn’t take long for Kagami to spot the basketball club’s table. There were two upperclassmen there- one with dark hair, a scowl, and a pair of glasses, the other with a friendly smile, and bushy brown hair and eyebrows. They both spotted Kagami approaching them at the same time, and grinned.

“Looking to join the basketball team?”

Kagami nodded.

“Great! We could use someone like you on the team,” The one with glasses said, and handed Kagami an application.

Kagami looked at the application, trying to think. _Reason for joining, huh?_

He was almost prepared to write a big fat “screw the rest of the Generation of Miracles” on his application, when suddenly--

“Excuse me, I’d like an application too.”

All three students nearly jumped out of their skin at the quiet yet confident voice that came from seemingly nowhere. Kagami glanced around, only to see… some blue-haired kid. Wait, no, he was wearing a Seirin uniform, so he had to be another student. But he was so small, he didn’t look athletic at all, and he didn’t even carry the “scent” that Kagami had picked up from better basketball players… was he joking?

“I’m serious,” the guy said, looking at Kagami with eyes that seemed uncomfortably close to analyzing him.

“Yeah, whatever,” Kagami groused, handing in the application.

_At least the guy looked serious about it,_ he thought.

_(“Say, Hyuuga… That guy didn’t put down a reason for joining.”_

_“Ah, whatever. He’s tall and he wants to join the team, that’s good enough for now until we can find someone to be our coach. I can’t believe Oko-san is retiring soon.”_

_“I heard that Teikou had a manager who’s good at analyzing players. Maybe this ‘Kagami’ guy can help find her.”_

_“Why would he know her?”_

_“Well, it says here that he’s from Teikou…”_

_“Eh?!”)_

* * *

**Kaijou High.**

Kasamatsu frowned. He had known that Kaijou was an up-and-coming school with a good basketball program, so he had assumed that his teammates would be skilled and serious, but his current predicament was the antithesis of that entire concept.

His current predicament, which was being fawned over by a third-year from the team who looked like he belonged in a magazine instead of on the court.

“Ah, so you’re one of Teikou’s golden eggs, aren’t you? Kasamatsu Yukio, small forward, known for his resilience, skills at split-second decisions, and ability to manipulate the opponents?”

Kasamatsu looked away, deeply uncomfortable with the enthusiastic scrutiny he was under.

“What, you’ve researched me?”

“Why wouldn’t we?” The blonde senpai asked with a cheerful grin, invading Kasamatsu’s personal space and circling around him. “We’ve had our eyes on Teikou for a while now. It’s important to make sure we know what our future assets will be. And we just struck gold.”

Kasamatsu grimaced, though it didn’t escape the eye of the blonde, who grew serious.

“We think you’d fit nicely with our team. We’ve been told that you would have been Teikou’s team captain if Imayoshi Shouichi wasn’t already taking the position. Rest assured, you’ll be appreciated here.”

The blonde stopped right in front of Kasamatsu, looking down a bit so they were face-to-face.

“Well, it’s not like you won’t have to show us what you’re made of anyway.”

“That’s for me to decide, Kise.” a voice cut in- Coach Takeuchi, as Kasamatsu would later know him as.

The upperclassman- Kise?- returned to his bubbly persona almost immediately.

“Well then, I hope you make the team, Kasamatsucchi! I can’t wait to see how we’ll work together.”

“I guess- wait, _Kasamatsucchi?!”_

Kise hummed and winked at him, and perhaps if Kise wasn’t his senpai, Kasamatsu might have felt tempted to whack him.

_This is going to be a long school year._

* * *

**Shuutoku High.**

Takao, aside from his status as “the hawk-eye of Teikou”, was notorious for his sense of humor. He was generally considered the most likeable of the Generation of Miracles, considering his charm and general sociability.

And yet, there was someone who seemed immune to him.

Now, Takao wouldn’t call himself conceited, but it did bruise his ego to be so thoroughly shut down by someone whenever he tried to start a conversation, especially someone his own age.

This particular person had the wildest green hair Takao had ever seen (granted, he’d rarely seen green hair at all,) carried weird knick-knacks with him, and was almost painfully (and awkwardly) brusque. Takao had only discovered this person’s name when it was called out by their homeroom teacher as attendance was taken- Midorima Shintarou- and while both the name and the face sounded eerily familiar, Takao couldn’t place where it was from.

And so, after his curiosity had gotten the best of him, he decided to try the direct approach.

“So, Shin-chan- do you mind if I call you Shin-chan?- I think I know you from somewhere.”

The nickname made the other boy stop dead in his tracks, and nearly drop the candle he was carrying in his hand.

“I’d prefer it if you didn’t call me by such a childish nickname,” Midorima said, and Takao nearly giggled at the overly-formal way he spoke.

“Sorry, sorry, I just think it would make you sound friendlier,” Takao joked.

“Excuse me?”

“Anyway,” Takao said, smiling at Midorima, “Have we met before? I think I remember someone who looked like you before, but I don’t know where. The green hair is kinda telling.”

Midorima stiffened, and glanced away.

“I suppose someone so insignificant wouldn’t be remembered by you anyway.”

That made Takao pause.

The amount of bitterness in Midorima’s voice was like having hot coffee splashed on him, and Takao wasn’t even sure what for. Midorima saw his confusion, and decided to answer him.

“You don’t recall a game against Kamizaki Junior High, do you?”

Takao thought for a moment. Basketball games at Teikou seemed to blur together, so…

“Aha! You’re the one who shot all those crazy three-pointers! It took forever to figure out how to stop you.”

Midorima flinched, and Takao belatedly realized that was the wrong thing to say.

“If you were hoping to compliment me, you failed.”

Takao blinked.

“So... you’re playing for Shuutoku’s team this year? Shooting guard I assume?” Takao asked casually, “Because I’m looking to play point guard. We could work together. I’m sure you’d like to have a member of the Generation of Miracles on your team instead of against it, right?”

Again, his attempts at placating Midorima failed- though this time, instead of bitterness, Midorima’s expression turned proud.

“A title like the _‘Generation of Miracles’_ is meaningless to me. If you want to rely on a nickname alone to get to the top, I see no reason to waste my time counting on you. Prove that you can stand alone against me and then I’ll acknowledge you.”

Takao blinked, and whistled.

_Impressive._

“Wow, Shin-chan, you don’t relax, do you?” He said instead, and Midorima scoffed.

“Don’t call me that.”

* * *

**Touou Academy.**

Imayoshi was considerably disappointed when he stepped into the Touou gym for signups, and saw a student scolded by their coach.

_So much for first impressions._

The coach, Harasawa-san, seemed to be getting more and more frustrated with the boy with the navy hair- probably a third year, though he didn’t seem very mature for his age. He looked completely disinterested in whatever the coach was saying.

“There’s no point if we just keep winning,” he said, “I don’t understand why we had to recruit anyone new. We’re fine as we are.”

At that point, Imayoshi noticed another student- a female with bright pink hair ( _what was it with weird hair colors today?_ ) approaching the two.

“Please, Dai-chan, you’re supposed to be the captain!”

“I’ll start taking things seriously when I find a challenge.”

Now _that_ piqued Imayoshi’s interest.

Moving towards the arguing trio, he politely cut in:

“Pardon, but I thought basketball signups were supposed to have started already.”

The three stopped to look at him and the coach hummed thoughtfully.

“You’re Imayoshi, aren’t you?”

Imayoshi nodded, and ‘Dai-chan’ pursed his lips, pointing at him rather rudely.

“You mean this is the guy who led the Generation of Miracles?”

“That would be me,” Imayoshi added, smiling saccharine-sweet. “I couldn’t help but notice you asked for a challenge. I’d be thrilled to see what playing against you is like.”

Dai-chan blinked, and frowned, saying “I’m not gonna take on an underclassman.”

The pink-haired girl looked at Imayoshi with now-bright eyes.

“Oh, you’re him!” She exclaimed, and turned to Dai-chan. “You could learn a thing or two from having him on our team.”

Dai-chan shook his head, and smirked.

“You sound like you’ve got a good rep. What made you choose Touou?”

Imayoshi tilted his head.

“No particular reason.”

Dai-chan scoffed.

“Bullshit.”

“Aomine,” the coach cut in- oh, so that’s who Dai-chan really is- “Don’t let your ego get ahead of you. With the Generation of Miracles’ split, we’ll have different, stronger opponents this year. We’re fortunate enough to have gotten their captain.”

“Huh,” Aomine said, sizing Imayoshi up, “Alright then, let’s see what you’ve got.”

(After a tight one-on-one, in which Imayoshi naturally won, he had the fleeting thought that he had made the right choice. Victory was in his grasp, now more than ever before.)

* * *

**Yosen High.**

“Hm, you must be special.”

That was the first comment that Himuro heard when he met the second-year who was no doubt a member of the basketball team.

Granted, almost everyone in the junior sports circle had heard of the Generation of Miracles, but it still fluffed his feathers (so to speak) to be recognized by his own merit. Playing with Kagami, they had always been a package deal. Seeing his practically blood-brother succeed at first had been great, but being surpassed by him was another feeling altogether. And now, it was finally his time to be independent, to show he could be just as good, to prove his worth and independence in a group that was every-man-for-himself.

“Thank you, I think,” Himuro said kindly to the purple-haired giant, and shot him a smile.

The second-year looked at him pensively, and muttered something.

“Sorry, I didn’t catch that,” Himuro said.

“I wonder if I could crush you.”

Himuro furrowed his brows, caught off-guard.

“What do you mean by that?”

The purple-haired student shrugged, and motioned towards the open gym doors.

“Tryouts already started. You should go.”

“Aren’t you going too?” Himuro asked, more than a bit puzzled. This guy is one tough nut to crack, he thought to himself.

“They don’t need me right now, and I’m hungry. I’m going to the vending machine.”

Their interaction nearly ended there, but as the giant stalked away, Himuro realized that he would need to get a better assessment of whatever players he was going to be teamed with.

“Hey. What’s your name?” He called out.

The second-year moved a strand of hair away from his eyes, and grunted lazily.

“Murasakibara. See you around, Miracle-chin.”

Himuro was thrown off by the weird nickname, but by the time he thought to ask about it, Murasakibara was already gone.

_Was everyone in Yosen that weird?!_

* * *

**Rakuzan High.**

Mayuzumi didn’t know how he managed to get cowed into being part of a practice game, but he found himself regretting it.

Tryouts had been earlier that afternoon, and virtually nobody had taken notice of him. The name “Teikou” didn’t ring a bell with anyone (which he was somewhat grateful for) and he was almost content to let himself fade into obscurity as a third- or second-string player… if it wasn’t for the redhead.

That creepy-looking third-year who had ruby-colored eyes that matched his hair had been watching him ever since he stepped into the gym. As soon as there was a five-minute break before the practice game (which Mayuzumi had intended on skipping out on), he was approached by the guy.

“You’re Mayuzumi Chihiro, aren’t you?”

Mayuzumi’s eyes widened fractionally. So, someone did recognize him.

“I am. What about me?”

The redhead smiled cryptically, and looked at the rest of the players preparing for the match.

“I’ve been the captain of this team for the last two years, you know. I’ve always managed to bring my team to victory,” He said with a note of fondness in his voice. “When I heard that the mysterious ‘phantom sixth man’ was attending Rakuzan, I wasn’t sure what to assume. But you look like you have a past.”

“What are you talking about?” Mayuzumi asked.

“Teikou did something to you, didn’t it? Broke your passion and turned you into a tool?”

Mayuzumi flinched at the accurate description.

“It’s hard to play without passion- I would know. But I can guarantee you’ll fill your full potential here. Keeping our winning streak isn’t much more than a bonus to you, isn’t it?” The redhead said, a sly smile on his face. Mayuzumi wasn’t sure if he liked it or not.

“Play in the game,” the redhead continued, pointing at where the others were standing, “And see for yourself what you could be.”

Mayuzumi watched his senpai carefully, only breaking eye contact when the upperclassman was called.

“Akashi, we’re starting! Is your friend tagging along?”

Akashi looked at Mayuzumi, and raised an eyebrow.

“Well?”

Mayuzumi took approximately three seconds to deliberate, before sighing and nodding.

“I guess.”

* * *

**But that was only the beginning.**

**Author's Note:**

> You know where to find me by now :P


End file.
